Dr Carl Phillips gives a fascinating presentation at City Health 2012 on tobacco harm reduction (THR) and illustrates with a complex systems model how THR will spread most readily in a dense urban population. It's probably best to watch this video in the highest resolution you can, to best see the modelling. Carl's blog about [...]
Hank delves into the details about that very popular substance: caffeine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl1XBJLfIDU&feature=relmfu
Hank describes how our brains respond biochemically to various addictive substances and behaviors and where those responses have come from, evolutionarily speaking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukFjH9odsXw&feature=youtu.be
The effects of taking cocaine and alcohol together are far more dangerous than taking either drug alone. Cocaethylene is formed when alcohol and cocaine meet in the liver. This metabolite remains in the body much longer, subjecting the heart and liver to a prolonged period of stress. This extended period of stress has caused deaths [...]
Drug dependency is a commonly misunderstood reality in today’s culture. Mention drug dependency, and most people are quick to imagine the homeless addict, thieving to support a heroin or crack habit. However, today’s reality proves that pigeonholed cliché isn’t always the case. In fact, with the advent of doctor prescribed medications and over the counter [...]
There are many misconceptions and misunderstandings about what group therapy is, whom it’s for, and how it works. Eliminating misunderstandings about group therapy can go a long way towards getting people the help that they need. Group therapy, like individual therapy, is intended to help people who want to improve their quality of life by [...]
Modernity has most of us familiar with using the terms “self-esteem”, “self-image”, and “self-confidence” on a regular basis, but how many people know, exactly, what self-esteem really is? How many people are plagued by a low self-esteem yet don’t understand why or how to improve it? How many people live, day-in and day-out, with low [...]
I struggled with addictions to drugs and alcohol from the age of fifteen. It was then a fifteen year long journey that took me from international drug smuggling and dealing to the park benches of Brixton. Ultimately, it took me to a place where death not only seemed inevitable – it was the only thing [...]